Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Cheddar Bacon Ranch Chicken Pasta

My older son is at an age now where he is extremely curious, and as a result he asks questions. He asks questions all the time. From the second he wakes up in the morning (“Mommy, where does the water that I brush my teeth with come from? What’s a water line? What’s a water company?”) to the second he goes to bed at night (“Can I sleep in my tent tonight? Why not? Can I have one more drink of water? Why not? What are we going to do when we wake up in the morning?”), he is asking questions. A lot of times, his questions leave me confounded, like when he asks me something like, “What does a machine do?” or “What’s freedom?” If you’ve never tried, let me just tell you: It’s nearly impossible to describe those things in a general way that a preschooler will understand. But I do my best.

I made this for dinner one night back in February, when the light for pictures still wasn’t great. As a result, before I ate my dinner, I carried my plate into the room we use for an office and put it on a small table in that room, right underneath the window, so I could get the maximum amount of natural light (which is also where I have my library books, which is why you can sort-of see a couple of them in the background). The whole time I was snapping photos, this chorus was going on in the background: “Hey Mommy, why you eating your dinner in there? Why you taking a picture? What’s a blog, Mommy? Can I have some pudding?”

Thankfully, as soon as he tried this dinner, all he had to say was: “This is yummy food, Mommy.” And after that, his only question was, “Can I have some more, please?”

2. Meanwhile, cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Drain on paper towels. Drain all but one tablespoon of bacon drippings from the pan.

3. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Add the butter to the reserved bacon drippings, then add the chicken to the same skillet. Cook until tender, no longer pink, and slightly browned.

4. Sprinkle the flour and ranch dressing mix over the chicken, stirring to coat evenly. Stir in the milk, and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened and bubbly. Stir in the cheddar cheese and half of the reserved bacon; cook and stir until the cheese is melted. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed.

5. Add the cheese sauce to the reserved pasta and stir to combine. Serve each plate of pasta with more bacon sprinkled over the top. Green onions would also be a delicious topping.

69 comments:

Your post made me laugh. My son also asks me those confounding questions. I have to remind myself that I don't have to have all the answers.I'm often getting frustrated with him when I am unable to answer him properly.

In my grocery store the ranch mix packets are on the top shelf over the salad dressings (actually above the ranch dressing bottles). This recipe looks delicious and has everything my husband likes. Will be making this soon.

I made this tonight for dinner and it was delicious!! I didn't have the right pasta, so I used spaghetti and broke it up into threes and it worked fine! I will definitly make this again!! Thank you for a great recipe!! Lynn

I'm making this as I type, and I don't even have to wait to taste it, I already know it is going to be amazing. I'd like to take a big loaf of bread and dip it in this base sauce that's thickening up!! Yumm!!

Wow, three grown men?! I'd almost tell you to double it. The recipe does make a pound of pasta, but my husband and two little guys and I very rarely have leftovers. It's just THAT GOOD. Go ahead and double it, and even if you have leftovers, they'll surely get eaten. :) I hope you enjoy it!

I made this last night and it was a hit with the adults. My kids are annoyingly picky. Miss E said one bite made her feel like she was going to throw up. *eyeroll* Even Ace, upon whom I can usually count to at least try new foods, refused to partake. Shrug - more for me & Dh!!

This may seem self explanatory, but between steps 4 and 5, do you pour the chicken mixture over the pasta and mix the noodles in? Or simply pour the Chicken mixture over the pasta more like a gravy topping? Just curious how people did that final touch. Thanks!!

my boyfriend and i made this for dinner one night and it was pretty easy. we were questionable about how it was going to taste because it didnt look too appetizing-after adding milk- but it ended up being really yummy. definitely going to make it again :D

I am curious if anyone has tried this the following day as a cold salad. Making this for dinner tonight and was thinking it might be good for a potluck at work. Don't know if a crockpot would dry it out.

Made this tonight....absolutely delicious!! My boyfriend said out of all the recipes that I've tried from pinterest, this is definitely the best one (and I've tried A LOT). Thanks for a great dinner :)

This looks super yummy! It also is saving me from the dilemma of oh no it's almost 5:30 and my husband is going home in half an hour and I don't know what to make panic!"Thank you for your cute post and awesome recipe! :)

Tried this today, it's amazing, I initially decided I was going to try and be healthy so I cooked a spaghetti squash in the oven, rubbed it down with some butter, sprinkled salt and garlic powder over it and baked.. Poured this sauce, chicken, bacon, mixture over it, omg, delicious, will try to make some adjustments to make it a little healthier, but as is, it is AMAZING, than,s for sharing this recipe!

I cooked my chicken ahead of time in the crock pot (which I often do for chicken dishes). So, the dish was done by the time the pasta cooked. One post says it's four servings, but I think you can have 5-6 servings easily. I served it along with brocoli on the side. Very good!!

Holy Crap was this goooood (and easy)! I made a few minor changes like the addition of a large chopped onion and I used more like 3/4 lb of bacon. I didn't reserve any of the bacon just kept it with the onions when I made the sauce. I also boiled the chicken the day before and added it to the bacon onion mixture. This is a "do-over", meaning it will become a regular in my repertoire! Thanks!

Made this last night and everyone loved it!! I doubled the recipe but had too many noodles so I just took some out before I added the sauce. So now I have leftover noodles to use for something else! It was a big hit here and I live with some picky eaters. My boyfriend took some to work and Im eating some now. Great recipe and very easy!

Made this for the second time last night and everyone loved it! I used a couple different cheeses and it worked great. I blogged about it with proper credit: http://hodgepodgecook.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/cheesy-ranch-pasta/ Thanks for the recipe!

Why is this recipe so yummy? Answer...because it was made with love!:) I bought the ingredients a month ago! Gonna try to make it tonight for me and my daughter. Perfect for this cold and rainy day we're having in S.C!

I made this last night and my little family LOVED it!!! I am so happy I foud your post. :) My picky 4 year old even ate it and I don't think Ill have a problem serving it as left overs. Thank you so much for sharing! It was the perfext mix of different, easy and delish! :)

I am now living in Singapore with my husband for a couple of years and am growing tired of Asian food! I am sometimes limited with ingredients but I had all of these so I decided to try this and what a dish! So yummy! It definitely will go in my cookbook! Thanks for sharing some "comfort" food with those who are far from home!

I made this about a week ago and my husband called it "crack in a pan"...it was so delicious! My one and a half year old scarfed it down as well. She's not a picky eater by any means but it's rare that she eats things that fast. I just wrote it into my recipe book so that I can continue to make this in the future!

Made this tonight and my boyfriend and I loved it! The only thing that I ran into was the fact that there was a lot more pasta then the chicken/sauce. Other than that, it was great! Thanks for the recipe.

So I'm the only one on here that sortof disagrees. It was good, just not perfect. I think it needed way more flavor, especially garlic. I'm come from a family that puts garlic in everything I cook. Next time I'm going to use cream cheese melted and mix the flour and ranch dressing into it then mix onto chicken. I also think there isn't enough sauce for the amount of pasta ... just my two cents

I just tried this and tweeked it a little for my own liking. I used southwest ranch and I used cheddar and pepperjack cheese (half and half). Also put a dollop of Daisy! It's very yummy!!!! Glad I found this recipe thanks much.

I made this tonight for dinner. My husband hates pasta dishes. He said he'd be willing to have this every other week. Huge. It was great. And so easy. We had broccoli with it. Yum addition. Thank you from four happy tummies.

Looks really good! I was wondering if anyone tried it with the bottled Ranch dressing instead of packets. I have a couple bottles of the HVR dressing that's about to go bad, so thought maybe the recipe could be modified somewhat to use it. I may try to. Thanks for the recipe! :-)

I'm a Midwestern wife and mom who loves to cook and bake. I learned to cook by watching the Food Network, hovering over the women in my family, and reading an ever-expanding collection of cookbooks. For me, cooking is a form of therapy, a way to reflect on my memories and to make new ones. I'm drawn to quick, easy, and balanced meals that my entire growing family will enjoy. If you have questions or comments or just want to chat, you can e-mail me at cassiecraves[at]yahoo[dot]com.